President Obama has vowed to a sweeping overhaul to the national federal financial aid programs by replacing private banks' subsidized student loans with direct government lending. Pres. Obama's economic team predicts that his plan will cut $94 million dollars in profit from the student lending industry, moneys which will be used to help the nation's poorest students by expanding the Pell grant program. Critics suggest that Obama is proposing a "one-size fits all" that will further complicate the student lending process.

Amidst the backdrop of the Columbia's hiring of Daniel T. Barkowitz as dean of financial aid and campus corruption scandals with many of the same student lending firms currently lobbying Congress, many undergraduates throughout the Columbia community are continuing to watch President Obama's fight with the private student lending lobby on Congress and its effects on Columbia's new financial aid plans.